What should I do if I am severely depressed? How to get rid of depression on your own

The problem of depression is relevant today. Sometimes it seems that there is no person who would not be periodically in a depressive state. However, when you yourself are depressed, it seems that the world, as if out of spite, rejoices and has fun. What to do with your own depression? This article in the online magazine site is for those who do not want to spend time on this condition.

Depression can happen to anyone, regardless of age, gender, material and social status. She usually has her reasons. In healthy people, the cause of depression is a hereditary tendency to depression, as well as various stressful and traumatic situations. In sick people who should be subjected exclusively to psychiatric treatment, it is the result of various deviations in the functioning of the body, serious traumatic situations of a long nature, etc.

Any person's mood can change. It's okay to be depressed, sad, distant sometimes. If this period is not long, it has causes, and a person quickly changes his mood, if specific factors contribute to this, then a depressive state is normal.

In a completely different way, experts characterize the condition when a person shows depressive symptoms for a long time:

• Depressed mood.
• Deterioration of attention and memory.
• Passivity (loss of interest in active actions).
• Pessimistic view of the world.

Conditionally, depression can be divided into:

1. Monopolar - when symptoms are observed for a long time.
2. Bipolar - when depression is replaced by euphoria, vigorous activity and lasts no more than a week or a month.

If we turn to statistics, we can find out interesting facts:

• About 20% of people periodically suffer from depressive disorders.
• 5-10% of people suffer from unipolar depressive disorder.
• A single episode of depression occurs in 26% of women and 12% of men.

Depression is genderless, but social roles and parenting practices allow men and women to handle situations differently. Depression has a different character, depending on the nature, upbringing and even the situation that caused it.

The main symptoms of depression include:

1. Feeling unhappy: a feeling of longing, detachment, helplessness, etc.
2. Loss of motivation. A person simply does not want to do anything, he has to force himself to do at least the necessary work. Often, others confuse this with laziness and capriciousness.
3. Slowness and passivity of speech, actions, deeds. The person may prefer to be alone and lie on the bed.
4. Violation of thinking: lack of concentration, memory impairment, forgetfulness.
5. A pessimistic view of oneself and the world. The person feels inferior, incompetent, unnecessary. In general, he evaluates himself and the world negatively, blaming someone in many ways.
6. Physiological symptoms of depression are manifested in complaints of:

• Headache.
• Disorder of sleep and appetite.
• Dizziness.
• Digestive problems.
• General weakness.

Depression is not, not whims and not just a bad mood. If you treat your own condition incorrectly, then you can miss the moment when a person could return to normal life. The deeper the depression becomes, the more unhappy the person becomes, who may now contemplate suicide.

Treatment and various methods of struggle help in recovery. It is better to make every possible effort than to indulge in negative emotions and external factors.

Depression - what to do?

The question remains what to do if depression occurs. Since from time to time everyone can experience a protracted depressive period, you should know the various methods for getting out of it. This process will not be easy. However, it should be understood that the absence of "treatment" measures can only lead to a worsening of the situation.

Thank God, there are so many ways to solve the problem. Basically, it lies in what causes depression. If a person's depression is a kind of mood that arose after a certain event, then the elimination of this condition will occur as the problem is solved.

For example, you quarreled with a loved one or you were fired from your job. Depression can arise in such situations. In order for it to pass, you need to get a job or make peace / find a new loved one.

The deeper causes of depression may lie in the lack of meaning in life. What it is? This is the purpose for which you live. It is not surprising that a depressed person thinks about suicide. It is in depression that a person cannot understand why he lives. He may forget about it or simply find himself in a situation where his built world is collapsing. The meaning of life is lost. To get out of depression, you should find a new meaning in life.

The wrong thing a person can do is to lie and cherish his oppressed state. In the end, it won't lead to anything good. What then to do? Search for your meaning in life. The typical meanings of life, according to society, are:

1. The birth and upbringing of children (especially by women).
2. Getting a job and getting a lot of money.
3. Becoming a successful person.
4. Caring for relatives, the sick, the infirm.
5. Passion for extreme sports.

In fact, all of the above is not the meaning of life for every person. The sole purpose of any reader's life is to achieve happiness. And what you will understand by this happiness is another question.

The person must be happy. Everyone understands something different by happiness. Here, priorities such as big money, raising children or sports can already be identified. A person must determine for himself what will make him happy, and begin to devote most of his time to this.

Do I need to be treated with pills that are so popular today? You can, of course, use them if the depression is deep. However, it should be understood that the pills will only help for a while, after which the person will return to his problems that caused depression. You can calm yourself and temporarily balance yourself with the help of pills. However, to eliminate depression, you will have to deal with your problems.

Here you can seek psychological help. There is nothing wrong. It is better to be cured of depression than to be a victim of it. A psychologist will help you find a new way out of a situation in which a person is mired and does not know what to do.

In addition, a psychologist can advise such forms of prevention of depression:

• Sports or physical activity. Movement is life. If you load yourself with some light exercises or gymnastics, it will be better than a complete lack of movement.
• Emotion control. A person is used to obeying his emotions, which leads him to depression. In fact, you need to learn how to manage your experiences and not allow them to be present for too long.
• Smiles and fun. Helps in eliminating depression pleasant moments of life. It is necessary to look for various sources of happiness that can please, amuse, forget about your depression for a while.

What to do during depression?

Depression is the result of an unhealthy lifestyle that a person leads. It can be not only bad habits, communication with bad people, troubles that a person cannot cope with, but also a negative way of thinking. What to do during depression? Change your mindset from negative to positive.

In order not to think about the lack of money, concentrate on the desire when you have money. In order not to think about a former loved one, think about who you want to see next to you in the future. To avoid thinking about the bad, think about the good. If you don't intentionally think about what makes you happy, your thoughts will automatically switch to thinking about something bad.

How can such knowledge be useful? Have you ever heard of the power of attraction or positive thinking? As long as you think bad things, you are attracting bad things into your life. And why do you need another suffering, if you want to live differently? If you don't want to have everything you think about, then why don't you think about what you want? Why are you wasting time and energy on things you don't want to have instead of focusing your efforts on thinking about what you want?

Often the bad things that a person thinks about are some kind of event from the past or a possible nuisance in the future. He thinks about what is already gone, past and does not threaten in the present tense (except that he thinks about it), or about what may never happen at all. If you think of a blue Zhiguli, will you turn your attention to other cars? No. You will see only blue Zhiguli, and the rest of the cars will become a gray mass, a background. This is how troubles and fears that a person thought about come true. Seeing only what he does not want, he does not notice everything that can please him. Of all the diversity that surrounds, a person chooses only what he constantly thinks about. For example, a woman, suffering because of love for a particular man, simply does not notice other gentlemen around.

Don't you feel sorry for spending the time allotted for life on something that you don't need and don't want to have? Don't you feel sorry for spending money on thinking about what happened in the past? It's already gone, let it go, forget what happened, you can't bring it back. And you seem to get stuck in the past with your thoughts, not noticing how the time of the present, the time of your life, is flowing away. Don't you feel sorry for wasting energy on fears about something that hasn't happened yet? After all, you are setting yourself up to see only what is connected with your fear, not noticing the rest, which can save you from any fears.

These are such simple truths, but few people use them. Everything simple is great! But a person is constantly looking for some difficulties, problems, because ... life is boring! You amuse yourself with grief and, depriving yourself of happiness, love and. But it's your choice! It lies in what you direct your thoughts to. Are you thinking about what you don't want or what you want? That is what you get in the end.

Depression is a consequence of the fact that a person does not control his own thoughts, emotions and direction of thinking.

Outcome

Other methods of influencing one's own depression can also lead to a good result:

1. Light therapy is when you increase the amount of sunlight in your life.
2. The use of aromatic oils, massage and other relaxing treatments.
3. Caring for pets who are always happy to see their benefactor.
4. Vitaminized food.

To get rid of depression, you need to realize its presence, accept the problem for what it is, and start dealing with it. It all depends on the severity of the problem and the duration of its solution. Sometimes just talking to good friends who will listen and support is enough. If the depression is deep, then a psychologist will help.

Depression can cover a prosperous and wealthy lady with a family, home and career. And people will say: “Fat is mad!” But it can also hit a woman roaming around in poverty, illness, or even in a zone of military conflict. And people will say: “What, she has nothing to do?”

Let's learn about depression in terms of personal experience. Katya A. shared her story and observations of the struggle with Pics.ru.

Hello everyone, my name is Katya, I'm 25 years old. I have a job, a loving family, not always successful, but rich personal life, I'm not stupid and pretty. To date, I have had two serious episodes of depression (for a year and a half), the medical card is F31.3: “Bipolar affective disorder, current episode of mild or moderate depression.”

Since the text is large, I will break it into logical parts:

- I think I'm depressed.

What should I do if I have depression?

– Psychiatry

– Psychotherapy

– Practical advice for those who are depressed

- about suicide

What should I do if my loved one is depressed?

I think I'm depressed

If you think that you have depression - this is the first step on the road to recovery. Many people do not understand for years that something is wrong with them, and this is understandable. When you're depressed, your perception of reality changes. Everything is seen in a black light, and the brain accepts with calm suffering that “it will never be good.” “Bad” becomes the norm, and sometimes it is impossible to even remember that it was once different.

The symptoms of depression are simple and banal, they can really go unnoticed for a long time. I get tired: so do others get tired. It also needs to be clarified here that normally a person is not happy 100% of the time. Everyone has their ups and downs, and bad moods are part of human nature. The peculiarity of depression is the persistence of these symptoms, and the fact that they are most often seasoned with organic changes (such as problems with sleep or appetite).

• bad depressed mood over weeks and months. It must be emphasized that it is necessary to observe a bad mood in oneself for a long time.
• Anhedonia. The inability to enjoy what you used to enjoy. I liked beautiful lingerie and sneakers, and at some point I just couldn’t look at them. I couldn’t get away from them, they merged into a multi-colored veil. You liked to cook, you watched every movie with McConaughey once a month, played the piano, and now you don’t? This may be a symptom.
• fatigue. Yes, everyone is tired. They plow themselves for 10 hours at the office, and 24/7 with children, everyone needs a rest and at least five minutes in silence alone with themselves. But if you have the feeling that from 70% or 100% of the battery you have only 30% in the morning, or when ordinary, routine things take away somehow too much energy - this is a wake-up call. For example, it became difficult for me to wash and drive a car.

There are also additional ones that do not always appear, but are no less important for this:

• Sleep problems in both directions - both insomnia and oversleeping.
• Appetite problems. Overeating and loss of appetite. “Food tastes like grass.”
• Low self-esteem. I'm worthless, I'm the worst, I can't do anything.
• Decreased concentration. It's hard to watch movies and read, it's hard to drive and count in your mind.
• Anxiety. Panic attacks, sensation of a lump of anxiety in the chest or throat.
• Suicidal thoughts. "It would be better if I didn't exist." A depressed person suffers so much that death often seems like a good way out for him. “Better endless horror than endless horror.”

To better understand what is happening to you, you can take some (or rather a couple of different) tests on the Internet. Key words: Beck scale, Tsung/Zang scale, major depression questionnaire. You will answer a bunch of repetitive questions that may seem trivial, but these tests are a quick way to understand whether you need to urgently run to the doctor or you can just relax and take a bath.

For the first time I realized that something was wrong with me, when I began to be overcome by animal horror if I had to go to college, panic attacks began in crowded places. I felt bad all the time, but I didn't realize it. I was going through a hard breakup and thought it was normal to suffer. But when I began to lose weight rapidly (I reached 48 kg with a height of 168 and a “wide bone”) and fainted from hunger (despite the fact that there was no appetite) - both I and my mother sounded the alarm.

The second time I began to realize that depression was coming to me, much earlier - after all, I am already an experienced fighter, but even with my lack of prejudices before psychiatry, it took almost six months to get to the doctor.

What should I do if I have depression?

Many are afraid of psychiatrists, some believe in vitamins and yoga, someone refuses any help because he is not weak and can handle it himself, someone walks or goes on vacation, someone relies on a psychotherapist.

The bad news: There is no magic pill for depression. Even if you went to a psychiatrist, you were prescribed antidepressants and they suddenly and quickly helped you - you are very lucky. Personally, antidepressants helped me not the first time, but when they helped, they took me out of the “horror-horror” state into the “horror” state. There is no panacea that will lead you to get rid of depression. There are only thousands and thousands of small and not-so-small steps that will help you come to recovery, and they are definitely worth taking.

Psychiatry

For a Soviet person, this word gives off something prison and disgusting, phrases such as “punitive psychiatry” pop up in the memory. Luckily, things are much easier now. A person no longer receives either a “wolf ticket” or “crazy” status if he is being treated by a psychiatrist. After all, there are psychiatrists in private practice who do not take any notes anywhere. By the way, after visiting the PND at the age of 18, I then calmly passed my driving license at 23.

A psychiatrist is first and foremost a doctor. He will certainly be interested in your problems in life, but only in order to understand what kind of depression you have - endogenous or exogenous? If there was some kind of shock outside, this is “good”, if depression developed just like that - this is a completely different story. The psychiatrist will be interested in exactly what you feel, how you sleep, how you eat, when you experience anxiety. The psychiatrist will not understand the depths of your soul, although, of course, the psychological background (for example, in the family and at work) will be interesting.

The good news is that a psychiatrist (at least a sane one) will never consider you a malingerer. I repeat for the hundredth time that the symptoms of depression look banal, but for a psychiatrist, these are old acquaintances that add up to a medical history, and not “you invent it for yourself.” I remember very well how at the age of 18 I went to the district PND and was shaking from the fact that I would be suspected of simply not wanting to go to college. No, they did not suspect, and even gave me a certificate that allowed me to skip the session.

What can a psychiatrist give? “Magic pills”, which, in fact, are not magical, of course, and will not turn your life into a meadow with pink ponies. But depression is still a disease with its own symptoms, and therefore there are pills that help to cope with anxiety, with a constantly bad mood (do not confuse antidepressants and stimulants), with mood swings, with tantrums.

The pills will help you breathe. They will help you fall asleep, if you are not sleeping, they will help you start eating again. They will help you start the day not with 30% battery charge, but with 50% or even 70%. They will help you remember that there are other emotions besides endless suffering, and if you are swinging on an emotional swing, they will reduce their amplitude.

But, attention - pills treat symptoms, they can even stop them to zero, but they cannot cure the cause of depression. To do this, you need either your own inner work, or work with a psychotherapist.

In addition, most psychotropic drugs have quite a few side effects. This is a decrease in libido, anorgasmia, weight loss or gain, drowsiness, memory impairment, tremor. But you should not be so afraid of them: all these side effects are temporary, they will pass after the drug is discontinued, and the drugs will help. Personally, after I started taking antipsychotics, the English language almost completely dried up, I thought about each letter for an hour, besides, the first few weeks were terrible, it was impossible to lift a cup with one hand, tremor, but it is better to be slow and with shaking hands than fast and shaking with sobs.

Psychiatry and pills are a radical solution, and it is likely to give relief faster than slow work on yourself. Tablets will relieve an acute condition, give time and strength to think. What is more important: no one will climb into your soul. I perfectly understand the prejudice against psychologists and psychotherapists, and I perfectly understand the reluctance to dig into my wounds, all the more, this can make it even more painful (and right now you need to survive, and not some kind of global “get better”.

Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy is, so to speak, treatment by talking. I don’t get into psychotherapeutic techniques at all so that they don’t suddenly stop working for me, so I don’t have the slightest idea how it works.

Until a year ago, I was not exactly an ardent opponent of psychotherapy, but I was suspicious of it. Too many stories about charlatans, non-professionals and just stupid people. What can psychotherapy give me that I cannot find out about myself? Am I unable to answer the question “how do you feel?”

But psychotherapy was not at all what I expected. It wasn't a verbal duel or "you want to sleep with your dad" as I imagined, but another special relationship that gave acceptance, support, and security.

At the very first session, they explained to me that I was not crazy at all, and that the feelings that I was experiencing were absolutely normal, and that I didn’t just “like to suffer,” as I was accused, but that I had the most depression. Psychotherapy builds you a safe haven, a comfort zone if you will, and from that harbor you can sail ships to fight your demons. This harbor is an understanding of who you are, what you like and dislike, what gives you strength and what takes away. Psychotherapy provides a verbal apparatus for describing ephemeral sensual ideas, and from the appearance of words, these ideas become much easier to juggle, easier to act consciously.

One thing I can say for sure: if you do not want psychotherapy, do not force yourself. Even if your friend is helping, and you are skeptical, it is better not to force yourself. If you didn’t like the therapist from the first session, don’t force yourself to continue. The therapist's office should be your comfort zone (at least while you're depressed), not just another battlefield.

Tip number zero: you need to exclude somatic diseases. You can go to the district clinic to see a general practitioner or neurologist and complain about your symptoms: drowsiness, fatigue, bad mood. You will most likely be sent to an endocrinologist to “check the thyroid”, and he, in turn, will send you for tests. Anemia and low blood pressure should also be ruled out. Well, just in case. If you are doing well with somatic diseases, you can (and should) go to a psychiatrist.

The good news is that it's not that expensive to treat depression if you want to. A pack of fluoxetine (Prozac) costs about 100 rubles (please don't self-prescribe it!)

Now I will talk about Russian realities, my experience is applicable to Moscow. There are free psycho-neurological dispensaries in Russia, where you can come by registration, having a passport and a compulsory medical insurance policy in your hands. There are psychiatric institutes in Moscow, for example, the Research Institute of Psychiatry, where you can come without an appointment, again with a passport and a compulsory medical insurance policy. Admission there costs about one and a half thousand.

Also for Moscow there is a wonderful opportunity - a clinic of neuroses on Shabolovka, where you can come, again, with a passport and a policy, without an appointment. There you can consult a psychiatrist, you can also go there for inpatient treatment. For me, the day hospital turned out to be an ideal option - to come to the clinic by 8.30, undergo procedures, and leave (or rather walk) home in the afternoon.

Psychiatrists are not to be feared. Perhaps in the state blades around you they won’t tiptoe around, but they won’t call you a faker, they’ll give you a sick leave, if necessary, and prescribe treatment.

If you are still afraid to go to state psychiatry, you can find a private practitioner. Their reception costs about 2000 - 4000 rubles. You can also find a psychotherapist with a medical background who can prescribe pills.

Please do not self-medicate! I deliberately do not write the names of medicines, because the soul is a dark subject, it is not subject to research, and only a specially trained person can prescribe psychotropics!

With psychotherapy, everything is simple. You just (ha-ha) find “your” therapist, and then work with him goes on as usual. Once again, I want to remind you that from communicating with a psychotherapist, you should have a feeling of relief, support, “nothing, we’ll break through.” This impression after the first session may last ten minutes or three days, but it should be. You came for help, not war, and if you and the therapist are uncomfortable for any reason (therapist's children are jumping around the apartment, the office is too noisy, the therapist sniffs, her perfume is too harsh or unfunny jokes), you can safely leave (by warning , of course).

Try looking for therapists you know. Look for therapists who have successfully dealt with a problem similar to yours (eg, divorce, failed pregnancy, abusive relationships). Rely on your intuition. Fortunately, we can choose a therapist, and if we choose well, he will be an excellent support for us.

In addition to pills (three times a day for fifteen seconds), psychiatric consultations (once a couple of weeks, forty minutes) and psychotherapy (once or twice a week for 50 minutes), you have a lot of time when you will be alone with your depression for one, and this time should not be forgotten.

Now I will say something paradoxical: depression cannot be cured. “Especially impossible” to be cured right now. She needs to be ill, to let the psyche get out on its own, but the psyche can and should be helped.

Now I will give advice (a good psychotherapist does not do this, but I'm not a psychotherapist, so I can!), But these are tips based solely on personal experience.

First, admit to yourself that you are sick.. You are a sick person, so you are entitled to concessions. You don't run a marathon when you have the flu and a temperature of 39? When you have the flu, you lie in bed and even though the grass doesn't grow. The dog is walked for five minutes a day, the children are given cartoons, the work is done half-heartedly. But now you are sick too. Let yourself get sick. Lie in bed under the covers, revel in your suffering. Are you sad? Be sad! Watch sad movies, listen to sad music, cry. You can! If you get depressed, then you are most likely very tired. Rest as much as circumstances permit. You now have every right to refuse events that do not give you strength, leave parties early, and not go on trips that are not interesting to you. You won't go to your parents' dacha if you have pneumonia, will you?

Secondly, despite the first advice to relax and let yourself get sick and suffer, you still have to lie towards the goal, that is, recovery from depression. No need to overexert yourself, but at the same time, you should not miss the glimpses of desires, pleasures, good mood that your brain misses. If you have a desire or any, even the smallest goal (for example, to wash the dishes or your hair), and you achieve this goal, the reward system broken by depression works in the brain. Do you understand that you will be just a cosmic fellow if you vacuum or take a walk to a cafe for coffee? Try to remember what gave you pleasure “in a past life” and do it (without fanaticism!) I, for example, cried every day before going to bed, and through tears (I am the worst, nobody needs me, I will never be happy) listed to myself things I love: cherries, the smell of hot asphalt, a cat, sneakers, singing while driving.

Third, keep the body healthy(a healthy mind in a healthy body!) Choose an activity you like: yoga, crossfit, pylon, rocking, or just walking - there are many options. And follow the regime. Most likely, with the start of taking antipsychotics, you will already be knocked out to sleep at ten: do not resist this. If it turns out and the body asks - sleep during the day (it helped me a lot to sleep for half an hour at work). Eat! It is possible that you will not have any appetite, but you need to force yourself to eat. Try to eat something tasty for you, a good option is pasta with something like chicken, any steamed food - neutral taste, minimum cooking effort.

Fourth, seek help and accept help. The support of loved ones (and distant ones too - you have no idea how many people came to me with offers of help after I publicly admitted that I had depression!) - this is very important in treating depression. At the same time, you have every right to delete from your social circle (at least temporarily) people who do not help, but, for example, lament or consider you lazy. In fact, you have no idea how many people have actually gone through this and understand your condition.

About suicide

Now that my depressive episode is almost over (10 months on the pills and in therapy, three weeks in the hospital), it is difficult for me to remember my suicidal thoughts, but if you dig up my records of that time, you can restore that I spent a significant part of my small forces to avoid committing suicide. Literally: sometimes I just lay in bed and made tremendous efforts not to get up and jump off the balcony. My suffering seemed so unbearable that I wanted to end it in any way. The abstract "I'll go out the window" turned into a cold, rational, detailed thinking through different ways.

It's really scary. And I don't know what to advise here, except "don't do it". I clung to how bad it would be for my close relatives if I died. If it seems that there is nothing to cling to, then perhaps it's time to call the psychological help hotline, or just anyone. And if you do not call, then write.

What should I do if my loved one is depressed?

Unfortunately, here too it is impossible to give one hundred percent advice on how to radically help, but you can set some direction.

First, you need to recognize and understand that your loved one is not fooling around, not lazy, but sick. She cannot “take it and stop suffering”, she will not be amused by a comedy or a picture with a cat. Read Wikipedia, look at Prozac Nation and Melancholia, try to understand how this person feels. Most likely, at the moment it is separated from you by a thick layer of cloudy glass, or a ball of tangled gray yarn. She does not feel tastes, does not hear music, most likely, any business is given to her with great difficulty, and this is not laziness, these are objective difficulties.

Second, offer her help in dealing with the outside world. Most likely, communication with official authorities takes a monstrous amount of strength from her, so take her by the hand and take her to the doctor, for tests, to the pharmacy. Even for me, an introvert, it is easier to communicate with authorities for the sake of someone else, and not for my own sake. Help her find a psychiatrist, psychotherapist, find out if there is a normal psychiatric clinic in your city where you can go.

Thirdly (and this follows from the second), help her with everyday life. Clean up after the cat, walk the dog, babysit so your friend gets some sleep. Cook some simple food, go to the store, buy bread, milk and cheese. When I was completely sick and stopped eating, and I was sick of almost any food, my mother would come to me and make mashed potatoes with steamed chicken breast, and I ate it in tiny portions. Start laundry, help hang laundry, wash dishes. All these tasks may not seem very noble, but you have no idea how much you will help. Help the person wash.

Fourth, don't discount her suffering. It may seem ridiculous to you that someone can't recover from the death of a beloved rabbit for a year (it's just an animal!), but no suffering is imaginary. Even the tiniest incidents can break a depressed person, and “the boss looked at work the wrong way” can look like a tragedy. Remember that a depressed person seems to be insignificant, she is the worst, all her problems look insurmountable. Accept it. No starving children in Africa will ease the suffering, but on the contrary, make them feel additional guilt.

Fifth, praise any movement towards the light. Did you go to the doctor? Well done! Did you buy pills? Well done! Has he been walking for a week now? Super well done! Did you eat three times a day? Space dude!

At some point (four months after I started taking antidepressants), it began to seem to me that the pills stopped helping, that I was sliding back to the very bottom, every day I felt bad, bad, bad. I wanted to quit medication and psychotherapy and just lie down to die, because it seemed that there was no point, and the only thing that stopped me was that a loved one repeated to me every day, “I see you from the outside, you feel much better, this noticeably."

There is a lot of text, but the topic is broad. What are the main things to remember?

• Depression is a disease with very specific symptoms. These symptoms can be found on your own. There is no shame in being depressed.
• If you think that you have depression, you need to go to a psychiatrist.
• Psychiatrists are not to be feared. They are exactly the same doctors as everyone else.
• Pills are not magical, you need to understand that they will not do well instantly and will not solve problems, but they will help!
• There are many free or inexpensive ways to deal with depression. These are state PND and psychiatric clinics.
• If you think that your loved one is depressed, be there. It might save her.

It is very common in today's world. It begins quite imperceptibly - a person reacts more and more sharply to various unpleasant circumstances, it is more and more difficult to return to a good mood. Constant fatigue begins to haunt him, the environment causes more and more irritation. In the end, apathy appears, a lack of aspirations, a desire to live.

A lot in the fight against depression depends on the person himself, on his desire to change something. And most importantly, from the ability to analyze the situation. The best weapon is introspection, introspection. If, for example, there is deep melancholy in the soul, you can succumb to this melancholy, plunge headlong into it. But there is another way - to track your state of mind, to evaluate it. Say to yourself: "Yes, I'm longing."

Such a statement alone is sometimes enough for the situation to begin to improve. The main secret lies precisely in tracking your feelings: as soon as you identify them and ascertain their presence, they begin to lose power over you.

There is another important point. Longing, melancholy, depression are external energies that you have tuned in to. The challenge is to get this setting. The first step is to monitor negative thoughts and feelings. When this happened and you stated your depressed state, you need to disconnect from negative energies. All states have one secret: they need constant nourishment. What continues, prolongs depression? That you are constantly finding new ones for longing. It can be little things that you in a normal mood do not even pay attention to. But depression makes you look for more and more reasons for anxiety, excitement, tears.

To break out of the swamp of depression, start purposefully looking for bright moments around you. It can also be little things - a singing bird on a tree, a beautiful tree, blue sky, fresh air. Smile at another person. Try to smile yourself, even through force. Laugh, even if your laugh is forced enough. And you will see that the negative state is leaving - you have violated its nourishment, not on its occasion.

In the same way that a person tunes in to negativity, you can tune in to joy, optimism, and the desire to live. The principle is the same - you need to find, notice everything around you that corresponds to the desired states of consciousness. As a result, adjustment to the corresponding energies will gradually occur. It may be difficult to maintain a good mood at first, depression will again try to take over. The most important thing here is to notice her attacks, track them - and not succumb to them.

There is an exercise with which you can quickly destroy the negative attunement. For example, you feel that you feel very bad, everything is seen in a black light. You are at the limit, you no longer have the strength. Be aware of this moment, then sit on a chair and begin to examine what surrounds you. It is necessary to slowly look from object to object, lingering on each for about five seconds. Don't rate anything, just watch. This will take you away from the perception of negative energies within a few minutes. After that, start tuning into positive moments, finally recede.

If the situation has gone too far, and you can’t get out of depression on your own, you should seek help from a specialist - a psychologist or psychotherapist.

The state of each person, mood and well-being are constantly changing. How to avoid depression or overcome it will help easy ways and useful tips.

In the life of every person sometimes there are dramatic events or other situations that can be difficult to survive and easy to get depressed.

The sooner you feel and understand that you are developing depression while in a pre-depressive state, and take urgent measures to get out of it, the less likely it is to reach a critical point of depression.

Depression is a mental disorder that can be caused by illness, infection, malnutrition, lack of rest and sleep, trouble, stress, or a protracted situation that traumatizes the psyche. How hard you experience it depends on how these events are perceived and passed through yourself.

Causes of depression

Depression can lead to:

• chronic fatigue;
• stress and dramatic situations;
• lack of sunlight (short days in winter);
• immobile lifestyle (physical inactivity);
• improper or poor nutrition;
• taking drugs without the supervision of a doctor, especially sedatives;
• headache;
• increased blood sugar levels;
• indigestion;
• serious physical defects;
• thyroid disease;
• allergy;
• certain infectious diseases (for example, influenza);
• other diseases or non-standard situations.

Depression begins with a disorder in the part of the brain that controls mood.

Listen to your well-being and analyze your condition. If you are prone to tearfulness and pessimism or notice frequent mood swings, listen to yourself more often so as not to miss the line and not cross the line between a healthy state of mind and depression.

Symptoms of depression and pre-depression

Depression and predepressive state have the following main symptoms:

• loss of interest in the world around, which seems gloomy and faded;
• isolation, unwillingness to communicate with their surroundings;
• lack of desire to do things you love;
• lack of ability to feel joy and;
• anxiety, fear, sometimes irritability, anger;
• depressed mood, pessimism;
• deterioration in concentration;
• low self-esteem, guilt and worthlessness;
• oversleeping or vice versa insomnia, nightmares;
• fatigue, chronic fatigue syndrome;
• an increase or decrease in appetite, leading to a change in weight;
• slowness of movement or increased fussiness;
• violation of sexual desire;
• lack of plans for the future;
• loss of faith and hope for improvement in the situation;
• abuse of psychotropic drugs or alcohol;
• poverty of facial expressions;
• frozen look.

If in some points you saw your psychological state, which has been observed for more than two or three weeks, then it is necessary to take serious measures to change it.

How to beat depression

What to do during depression or pre-depressive state leading to this disease? How to improve your well-being?

With a deep form of depression, you should immediately seek help from a doctor so that he can prescribe psychotropic drugs, complex treatment and give recommendations on how to get out of depression to you and loved ones who should take an active part in your salvation and assistance.

If you feel that you have a pre-depressive state and can help yourself, be sure to follow the helpful tips below to help you cope with the current state and solve your problems: how not to get depressed and how to overcome depression.

It may be difficult for you to force yourself to perform actions that are useful, but not interesting for you at the moment. If you do nothing, nothing good will happen, life will seem just as gray and uninteresting.

Help yourself, force yourself to constantly follow the tips below and notice that the multifaceted world around you is filled with colors, and actions have become the right way of your life. Life goes on!..

1. First of all, it is necessary to eliminate the cause that drives you into depression or move away from it. If this is not possible, then you need to change your attitude to the situation or circumstances. Depending on the complexity of the situation, try not to pass it through yourself, without taking it to heart as much as possible.

2. If the cause or object is in the past and is not present in your life now, but you think about it all the time, let go of all resentments and troubles associated with this object or situation. Don't keep it to yourself. Drive away all thoughts about this object and do not let them into your head.

3. Do not look back at the past, do not blame yourself for anything. Live in the present and plan for the future. Life goes on and there will be many new, interesting and beautiful things in your life.

4. Don't lie on the couch feeling sorry for yourself. Physical inactivity further aggravates depression, and pity makes you weak and lowers your self-esteem. Be confident in yourself and your plans for the future.

5. Review your priorities for being happy. Think about what you need for happiness and what it might mean for you.

6. Maybe you need to partially or completely change your lifestyle or your entire future life, set new goals, make plans for a week, a month, a year and 3 years. Look to the future and imagine it bright and beautiful. After the black stripe, there always comes a white one, and the width of the stripes depends only on you, on how you perceive this or that situation.

7. : people, nature, animals, birds and even useful things that are around you. Give more love, kindness, and then only good events will happen to you, and only good people will meet on the way, and there will always be only a white streak of luck and good luck in life.

8. Connect with other people as much as possible. Sign up and participate in some training on a topic that could be useful and even interesting for you. Actively participate in social events aimed at getting only positive emotions, visit pleasant public places.

9. Remove all irritants. Repair non-working household appliances and broken items or replace them with new ones.

10. Change the situation in the apartment if it annoys you or reminds you of unpleasant events: rearrange or change the furniture, re-hang the pictures, re-paste the wallpaper or make repairs.

11. Change your appearance: hairstyle, color or hair length. Buy new clothes, shoes, a bag or other interesting accessory. and take a picture, smiling happily.

12. Hang on the wall or put on the table in a beautiful frame your old or new photo in which you are smiling and happy.

13. Try to keep yourself constantly busy with something so that there is no time for negative thoughts, but do not physically overstrain.

14. Due to the accumulated fatigue, the nervous system is exhausted. Therefore, it is necessary to sleep 7-8 hours, try to get up, eat and go to bed at the same time.

15. Take up outdoor sports: morning jogging, brisk walking, badminton, cycling, fitness, ice skating, skiing, rowing and more.

16. Think about your favorite hobby, such as photography, fishing, DIY crafts, drawing, reading books, etc. They will distract from obsessive unpleasant thoughts and show what a colorful and beautiful world we have.

17. Organize yourself in the place where you have long wanted to go or go. Change the environment for a while. This pause will give you the opportunity to heal yourself.

18. Communicate more often with wildlife, relax in squares, parks, in the forest, on the river, especially in sunny weather. Fresh air and greenery soothe and relax, while sunlight lifts the mood and tone. For this reason, when at home on cloudy days, turn on brighter lighting.

19. Protect yourself from negative emotions. Do not watch films and programs that carry negativity.

20. Communicate with people who do not grumble, do not worry, do not complain, do not burden you with their problems, but enjoy life, are positive and are ready to understand and support you.

21. Don't start or keep up negative conversations. Do not discuss or criticize other people, do not envy, do no harm to other people, because this negative will definitely return according to the boomerang law, but in the form of illnesses and troubles.

22. Get rid of bad habits: slander, smoking, alcohol, etc. Alcohol has a detrimental effect not only on human organs, but also on the psyche, driving people into depression even faster.

23. Try to stay constantly in a good mood, experience positive emotions and a feeling of lightness. Cheer yourself up in a variety of ways.

24. Give yourself gifts and beautiful, fragrant flowers. Breathe in pleasant smells using aromatherapy.

25. We are what we eat. An unbalanced diet is a common cause of depression. Do not eat so-called "fast" food.

What foods to eat for depression

A pure body has pure thoughts. For this formula to work, every health conscious person tries to eat only natural products that do not contain GMOs, chemical additives, high amounts of saturated fats, as well as “fast” food (fast food, hamburgers, chips, etc.).

In the period of depression and predepressive state, it is necessary to use the following products:

• salmon, white fish, turkey, lean boiled meat;
• nuts, 4-5 pieces per day;
• raw fruits and vegetables;
• greens;
• berries;
• honey, 3-5 spoons a day;
• cereals, bran bread;
• eggs;
• dairy products, cheese;
• vegetable oil.

Take care of yourself and your health. Eat only natural products. Get rid of bad habits and lead a healthy lifestyle. Charge yourself with positive energy from positive emotions. Do good. Give the world a huge amount of your love and get it back, multiplied several times over. Be joyful, happy and easily realize your goals and dreams.

Life is beautiful and it goes on!..

You can talk about depression for a long time and smoothly, or you can just be silent. Doesn't matter. Nothing will happen until You take action. Here is collected what helps, caught in the sticky network of depression. You will learn what to do if you have depression- this material was collected for several years, piece by piece. It contains information from dozens of books, from hundreds of letters, from thousands of Russian and English articles. And most importantly - it is taken from Life - from the experience of those who struggled with depression. Those whose path was not straight. Those who fell, perhaps even for a few months. But, nevertheless, he got up and walked again.

..every person is able to learn to control his mental activity and his behavior to a degree that he could not even imagine before. If you are in a depressed state, then you yourself have produced and created in yourself what you consider a depressed state. If you are in a state of ecstasy, then this is also the result of your creativity.

It is important to remember that this kind of emotion, like depression, does not fall on us from the outside. You can't "catch" depression. You yourself create it, like any other result of your life. through specific mental and physical actions. In order to get depressed, you have to look at your life from a certain angle. You must tell yourself certain things in a certain tone and intonation of the inner voice. You need to “put on” a certain posture and even breathe in a certain way. For example, if you want to get depressed, you need to slouch and look down at your feet with downcast eyes. It also helps if you start speaking in a low voice and think through the darkest scenarios for the development of your future life. And if you intentionally disrupt the biochemical processes in your body with poor nutrition or alcohol or drug abuse, then you will inevitably lower your blood sugar levels, and then depression is certainly guaranteed.

Anthony Robbins "Unlimited Power"

What is depression, let's turn to Ozhegov's dictionary: “Depression is an oppressed, depressed state; decline". Often depression is described as an emotional state (or state of mind) steeped in sadness, frustration, and hopelessness. Depression is one of the most common and one of the most ancient mental illnesses of mankind.

V. Dovgan - How to overcome depression, despondency, melancholy - Video...

But in depression, any effort is given with difficulty.
- Yes, you are right.
- But it takes too much, leaving no hope.
- Yes. She is exactly like that.
But it is scary and endless.
- Yes. Yes. Yes. You are a thousand times right.
But, nevertheless... Try to make this step. For yourself. For the sake of the world in which you live. For Your life, which can still be changed if... If You take this step.

So, sadly, to date, depression has not been invented remedies that act instantly. Getting out of depression is really you-GO. And it really implies movement, action, effort, and if you are ready to do it, then let's start.

Here's a decent "compilation" of information about depression and what to do about it, but check out this article first: depression what to do- "Crossroads of depression" and watch a video from Vladimir Dovgan - "How to beat depression."

Signs of depression

The classic signs of depression are: indifference to life and loss of interest in previously favorite activities; disturbance of appetite and sleep; lethargy, loss of concentration, depression; inactivity, chronic fatigue; increased feelings of guilt or feelings of worthlessness and worthlessness, and as a result, negative thoughts about oneself, life and others, and in some cases, thoughts of suicide. Depression is often compared by people to deep darkness. Someone even called depression a burial alive. World-famous theologian Charles Spurgeon called depression "the horror of a God-forsaken soul"

A trip to psychology

To begin with, we note that all people are divided into two types. Each of us is inherently predisposed to one of two approaches to life. One type of people instinctively "withdraws into itself" when the outside world approaches them, people of another type, on the contrary, are drawn to meet it. In accordance with this, we are all divided into extroverts (outward directed) and introverts (inward directed). Although each of us is able to choose either of two approaches to life when the situation requires it, only one of them gives the greatest preference. A noisy company in which an extrovert feels like a fish in water is the worst punishment for an introvert. The attachment of an introvert to everything that has long been familiar can drive an extrovert into a frenzy.

The clear majority of modern approaches (especially popular psychological tests sin this) single out a certain number of introvert and extrovert traits in a person, ultimately reducing everything to a simple percentage, considering the probability of the existence of "pure" types is extremely small. But if you look at the root of the problem, then the point is not at all that some people are more sociable, and some are less. From this point of view, it is really impossible to find pure extra - and introverts - any person in one way or another combines the features of both of them.

A person's belonging to a particular type is determined primarily by the reaction to stress. With an unfavorable external influence, the introvert will seek support within himself, turns to his own soul for energy, while the introvert, on the contrary, will go outside. And if you are an extrovert, then, most likely, when you feel uneasy - you prefer to unwind, go out into the outside world - your source of energy is there. It doesn't matter how - at a disco, in a noisy company or talking on the phone with a friend. If you are an introvert, then in such a state you are unlikely to be attracted to people - you, most likely, would prefer to take a break from the world alone, or in a circle of people very close to you.

An extrovert is a person focused on external objects and events, and the outside world for him is the only real
existing - this is the strength of the extrovert and his weakness. He is most often unaware of the constant internal dialogue, as he is focused on information coming from the outside world. For an introvert - his inner world and constant internal dialogue - his native element. Most of the knowledge about the world he receives through representations created in the mind.

Western society, unlike the East, clearly favors an extraverted approach to life, and most of the articles on depression are aimed specifically at extroverts. And if a typical introvert, having fallen into a depression, reads an article in a magazine at his leisure, offering to "get the crap out of his head" in ways typical for an extrovert, then most likely he will drive him down a step.

It is important to know which of these two types you are, as introverts and extroverts have different relationships with depression. According to the founder of this theory K.G. Jung (by the way, an introvert), it is not difficult to determine which of these classes you belong to - it is enough to analyze your dreams - in a dream, introverts often have conflicts with extroverts and vice versa.

Ways to get out of depression, how to cope, what to do

Running and exercisedepression

If you don't run while you're healthy, you'll have to run when you're sick.(Horace)
It can be said with full confidence that this, to one degree or another, helps everyone and with any depression (regardless of severity). Although it is a double-edged sword. Physical activity really gives strength, but where can you find these strengths in order to start these very physical exercises?

When the shower is empty and cold, and it’s dark and -20 outside, it’s hard to get out of bed on the icy floor, put on your running shoes and run. It is very easy to promise yourself to do exercises every day, well, it is unimaginably difficult to actually do it. If hardly one out of a hundred people in a normal state condescends to undertake this "feat", then what can we say about a depressed person.

But the fact remains that any physical activity contributes to the production of endorphins, which, of course, has a positive effect on mood. According to many psychiatrists, regular jogging is no less effective than psychotherapy or antidepressants. Moreover, the improvement occurs not only as a result of changes in biochemical processes. Gradually, the attitude towards oneself changes, self-confidence grows.

Not so long ago, scientists conducted studies on a large group of people suffering from depression. The first group took antidepressants, the second - exercised for half an hour 3 times a week, the third - combined treatment with drugs and exercise. After 4 months, significant improvements were noted in more than half of the subjects in all three groups. But by the tenth month, symptoms of depression reappeared in 30% of people taking drugs, 40% of people who exercised, and 10% of those who combined the above.

Those who have experienced deep depressions know that negative thoughts become constant companions for all this time. Trying to get rid of them is a futile exercise - they will seep through any action, preventing you from concentrating and taking away your last strength. But there is one good way - it's running. For some, this simple tool can be a real panacea. You need to run, fully focusing on running. You will see for yourself that a second, third wind opens, forces appear ... Such a run is a kind of deception for the mind - at this time it simply does not have time for habitual thoughts - it is busy with other things.
Yes, I really don't want to get up in the morning. There is sticky fear inside, you lie down, you count the last seconds, you understand that now the alarm clock already set forward will ring for some time, and you will have to run. Run into the world. No forces. No strength to get up. But, as one great man said: “If you can’t get up, fall to the floor.”

Fasting will helpdepression

It is one of the most radical methods. In Soviet psychiatry, there are methods of therapeutic fasting, designed specifically to get out of depression. In some psychiatric institutions, people suffering from depression starve under the supervision of doctors for 2-3 weeks and fully recover. This technique is especially popular among women, because. allows you to get rid of not only depression, but also extra pounds. During fasting, powerful cleansing mechanisms are launched, not only at the level of the body, but also at the level of other systems. After all, a person is not just a body, but also a Soul and Spirit.

I have tried fasting during depression several times from 1-3 days to 3 weeks. Feelings during fasting are ambiguous - sometime you feel a complete decline in strength (both physical and mental), sometime positive sensations and energy appear. Fasting brings the body out of the usual even depressive state into a wave-like state with jumps, both up and down. After long periods of fasting, the sensations of depression disappeared completely. But, unfortunately, for a short time.
I would like to warn about the obstacles and dangers that may lie in wait for the starving. Firstly, fasting is almost impossible to combine with a normal life in society, due to periods of severe weakness and other unpleasant phenomena.

Secondly, during fasting, you must definitely move and be in the fresh air a lot. And most importantly, in no case should you start starving for a long time, because with a sharp deslagging of the body, the consequences can be very unpleasant, up to death. Since fasting is a whole science, this should be taken with all responsibility.
And one more negative point - after fasting, many people rush to the opposite extreme. There is an irresistible craving for food (bulimia), which in itself can turn into a serious disease and require treatment. Basically, bulimia is the prerogative of the weaker sex (according to statistics, 9 out of 10 prone to bulimia are women).

Sleep Deprivation (DS)

Hi, how's life, how's work?
- Yes, nothing, slowly - I work in three days.
- And how do you live?
- And I live in three days.
(from jokes about DS)
Deprivation or to put it simply - sleep deprivation- the only method that can bring a person out of even the deepest depression within a few hours. It, as well as fasting, is practiced in some psychiatric institutions, and the biochemical mechanisms of both methods associated with a deficiency of carbon dioxide in the blood are similar.

It is believed that sleep deprivation and its effect on the human mind is a relatively recent invention, but this is not entirely true. Even the ancient Romans knew that a sleepless night, along with entertainment, could relieve a person of depression symptoms for a while. Then sleep deprivation was undeservedly forgotten, and was accidentally rediscovered only in 1970 in one of the Swiss psychiatric clinics. After the rediscovery, interest in DS was enormous, but it is gradually being replaced by more modern methods - mainly medications, which act not so quickly, but more reliably. So you can open this method for the third time. This time, it's for myself.

There is not much information on RuNet about the connection between DS and depression, but if you enter the phrase "depression" & "sleep deprevation" into Yahoo or AltaVista, then a decent heap of information will fall out in response. Most of the articles speak of this technique with enthusiasm, the smaller one treats it with prejudice and criticizes it. So the only way to figure it out is to try it yourself.

This technique is quite simple. You just “miss” one night, i.e. in the evening you do not lie down as usual, but continue to be awake during the night and the next day. Then in the evening you go to bed at the usual time, resulting in a period of wakefulness of approximately 36-40 hours. Honestly, this is my favorite method, because it really helps me. And if someone works "days" in two, then I can say to myself that I live "days", in two, because it was with such a frequency that I began to practice this method.

The most important thing is to overcome the strong periods of drowsiness that usually occur in the morning hours. Moreover, it is almost useless to kill time in anticipation of miraculous changes, staring at a screen or a book - you will almost certainly fall asleep. It is necessary to alternate them with something active - you can do cleaning in the apartment, exercise, etc.

Changes in the state begin to occur somewhere around 3-4 o'clock in the morning. Sleep passes, energy and strength appear. This is how the rest of the night passes and the next day. True, out of habit, for the first time you feel sluggish, and strong drowsiness piles up from time to time. It is fundamentally important to combat these attempts, because if you fall asleep even for a short time, then the entire effect of deprivation may be lost. On the evening of the second day, You lie down as usual, for it is dangerous enough to practice for more than one night.

So - in the morning of the next day you wake up, and ... you feel that depression has returned, and you feel just as bad. Although most often the morning state, even after the first DS, there is some improvement. You must be prepared for this, because there are no miracles in the world. So what's the point? Is the game worth the candle? Everyone decides this for himself, but sometimes, after long hopeless months, one day ... He, like ... a ray of sunshine, in the middle of a long polar night. And when it seems that depression will never end, then such a day gives hope. How can you live without hope? To achieve a sustainable effect from DS, it is necessary to go through several sessions. Their number may vary depending on the condition and tolerance, but the average is 6-8 sessions.

In fact, during deprivation, you enter a state called AIS (altered state of consciousness). Prolonged sleep deprivation was used by the Gestapo (they knew how to pick up the keys to the human psyche) - this torture was considered one of the most severe. DS is also used in some shamanistic rituals - for example, it is believed that a woman who does not sleep for five days opens the world of spirits, and she becomes initiated. In fact, not sleeping for five days is an impossible task for the human psyche - in this case it is already impossible to control oneself and frequent and short-term (literally for a few seconds) falling into sleep occur. Reality and dreams are mixed, auditory and visual hallucinations begin, which the shamanic concept explains by the presence of spirits.

I would like to warn that although more than half of those who have tried DS note a positive effect the first time, but for some (their clear minority) it is necessary to try several times - so you should not put a bold cross on DS at the first failure.

I myself, purely for the sake of experiment, tried sleep deprivation for several days - and the practice was fully consistent with the theory. Firstly, despite all the desperate attempts to fight sleep, short-term falls into sleep soon begin, and sometimes there is a feeling of confusion - where reality ends and sleep begins. Mild auditory and visual hallucinations also began to occur.

So if you are going to practice this method to get out of depression, it is better to use the standard technique, which is described in detail in the article "Depression and DS (more)" - usually this is enough. Otherwise, it can lead to mild forms of psychosis, which is extremely unpleasant. By the way, it is interesting that some creative people know about the effects of DS (increased energy level, clarity in the head), and use it for work.

Light therapy from depression

This procedure can become a panacea for those who suffer from seasonal depression, in official medicine called SAD - seasonal affective disorders. Most often, the symptoms of SAD appear when our body lacks the sun so much (usually in the autumn-winter period).

In general, the influence of the weather on moods is felt by a rather large percentage of the population (30-40%), and it takes the form of a depressive disorder in 5-10%. The probability of the disease increases with the advancement to the northern latitudes. So, if in the USA - in the southern states of ATS, 1-2% of the population is affected, then in the northern states this percentage increases to 10%.

During light therapy, a person is exposed to light from a bright lamp (of the order of 10 lux), which is equivalent to the amount of light passing through a window on a sunny spring day. Thus, this method, as it were, compensates for the lack of a natural light source - the Sun, with an artificial one. Treatment usually continues for 4 weeks, with improvements occurring within 3 days to 2 weeks. The duration of the procedures can vary from half an hour to several hours a day.

Special lamps are produced in the USA and Europe, the light of which is close to the spectrum of sunlight, so that the sessions can be carried out at home. In Russia, the situation is not so sunny - as always you have to rely on your own strength - powerful lamps, which are usually sold in photo shops, are most suitable for this purpose.

There is also a way to artificially increase the length of daylight hours. In the West, devices are produced, consisting of a special lamp and a time relay, which turns on the lamp two hours before the rise.

According to medical statistics, light therapy helps two-thirds of people suffering from SAD. If you belong to the remaining one-third - why should you adjust the rhythm of your life to the vagaries of the weather. Spend sunny days outside or take winter holidays to spend it in areas where there is a lot of sun. Although this recommendation sounds rather ridiculous, given that a tiny percentage of Russians can afford a vacation in the Canary Islands. At least - for today.

Psychotherapy withdepression

Psychoanalysis is confession without absolution(G.Chesterton)
In the US, almost every normal (and even more so - not very normal) person has a psychotherapist. In Russia, even fairly wealthy people struggle with their depression alone. Unfortunately, in our country, the institute of psychotherapy is more or less developed only in large cities, and even there you have to pay quite large sums for treatment by a good specialist. And it's not just about money - remember the Soviet times. Then the consequences of such a visit were not long in coming and took a very concrete form. At the same time, it was not the diagnosis that was important - after all, the doctor could fix the full rate - but the very fact of treatment. Well, if a psychiatric diagnosis is made ...

Worst of all, the philistine consciousness continues to divide people into "healthy" and "mentally ill" (relatively recently, medicine did the same). And according to this logic, "crazy people" should be isolated from "normal" ones. The very concept of a mental norm is not very specific, and mental illness in the understanding of a “normal” person usually causes very specific associations.
In fact, only 5-7% of those experiencing any mental problems are people with mental disabilities. The so-called "big psychiatry" deals with them, and the majority manages to live their lives without getting acquainted with this section of medicine. The remaining 93-95% - the contingent of "minor psychiatry", patients with the so-called borderline conditions. The name of these states is legion. These are various neuroses, disorders of the emotional sphere, behavior, the consequences of mental trauma, disorders of habits, etc. And from this point of view, it turns out that a huge number of "normal"; people need the help of a psychotherapist or psychiatrist.

There are more than 200 (!!!) areas of psychotherapy, but two main ones can be distinguished. The first is psychodynamic or insight-oriented (this group includes the well-known psychoanalysis), which helps the patient achieve insight (enlightenment), get to the bottom of the causes of the problem, which are often rooted in childhood itself. Another category is cognitive (behavioral) therapy, which focuses on specific changes in a person's behavior and thoughts.

However, if the depression is so severe that it causes problems at work or other areas, the person may not have the mental strength to do more than supportive care. This type of therapy focuses on supporting the person himself, and does not deal with changes in his condition.

Although - can psychotherapy completely cure depression? There is no single answer to these questions, but in any case, it will take a lot of time to get to the bottom of the causes of the disease. And often, as K. Jung noted, a lot depends on luck. Probably only from not too severe forms, but psychotherapy can teach you to control the state of depression. There is no firm guarantee to get rid of this disease.

During depression, it seems that all sessions are wasted - because nothing changes - most often their results can only be fully realized after the exit. But one way or another, the feeling of support is important. That at a time when everything is shaky and ridiculous, there is a person who knows (or pretends to know) what to do, and thereby helps to keep a thread of hope in his hands. The course of psychotherapy can last several weeks or drag on for years. It all depends on the doctor, the patient and the specific situation.

And what about the residents of not so large cities, where there may be no professional psychotherapeutic help at all? There is only one thing left - to contact the district psychiatrist, who, most likely, will prescribe antidepressants for you.

aromatherapy as a way out depression

Aromatic oils penetrate the skin through the skin into the bloodstream and then disperse throughout the body, and through the membranes and the base of the nose - into the brain and directly affect mood, as they reach the brain regions responsible for emotions.

There are many ways to use essential oils - you can inhale their smell from a bottle, spray it in a room, use it for massage, but the most common and effective is the aroma lamp. The aroma lamp is a small (usually porcelain or ceramic) vessel, in the lower part of which there is a burning candle, and in the upper part there is a little water, to which a few drops of oil are added. From heating, the smell of oil quickly spreads throughout the room and remains in it until the water boils away.

There are many oils or their mixtures that can be used to reduce depression. The following are only the main ones: anise, orange, basil, bergamot, oregano, spruce, jasmine, cedar, coriander, lavender, lemon, tangerine, lemon balm, peppermint, rose, rosemary. Aromatherapists do not recommend using the same oil or mixture of oils for too long - they may lose their effectiveness.

I would also especially like to note the beneficial and calming effect on the psyche of baths, the effect of which can be enhanced by dissolving a few drops of oil in water. Even Thomas Aquinas recommended during the melancholy (along with sleep) to contemplate the passions of the Lord (that is, look outward, from oneself to great suffering) and take baths.

A surge of emotion will help you get out ofdepression

Negative emotions are constant companions of depression, but in a civilized society it is not customary to express them openly. How often, at a time when anger and resentment boils inside, we have to restrain emotions, pulling a mask suitable for this occasion on our face. In this world, nothing disappears without a trace, so suppressed emotions will definitely go into the subconscious and there they will continue their destructive effect.

No wonder Admiral Nelson, during fits of anger, which happened to him quite often, diligently trampled on his beret. In Japanese toilets, there are rubber effigies of narrow-eyed bosses - the Japanese perfectly use the mechanism of an outburst of emotions in practice. Probably, not everyone can afford to order a rubber effigy of their “beloved” boss or enemy, but there are many improvised means. Of course, a punching bag is best suited, but for lack of it, one of the most popular improvised means in Russia is the “ordinary pillow”. To increase the service life, it is advisable to cover it with something or use sofa cushions.

Despite the apparent simplicity, this method is very effective, and most importantly safe. You can work with a specific person or situation. The only problem is that many people control themselves so much that, after beating the pillows for five minutes, they leave with the words “well, there is probably no aggression”. Of course not - she went too deep, and to extract her, you have to work hard. To do this, you need to enter into a state of fury, rage, perhaps - for a while to become a beast, lose your human face, and with it that part of the mind that controls emotions. That's when everything will work out. Often during this "session" situations that occurred a very long time ago (for example, in early childhood) emerge, which seemed to be forgotten once and for all. But in reality, the wound has simply scabbed and is unconsciously still hurting.
There is another way to express emotions - of course, these are tears.

“Tears are rain that takes away a thunderstorm,” said Saint-Exupery. "Tears are the rain that washes away the dust of the earth that covers our hardened hearts" - these are the words of Charles Dickens. If a person cries, then he lives, then his soul is able to feel. In modern society, there is a stereotype that tears are the prerogative of women. Real men never cry, crying is not masculine. But all this is from a series of control, the desire to look courageous. Perhaps this is one of the strongest attitudes that has been absorbed into us with the words of our father: “Men never cry”, which is almost impossible to break. But everyone has tears. And if in women they flow down the cheeks, corroding cosmetics, then in men they settle inside and corrode the souls.

Pets will help withdepression

Those who already have a four-legged pet in the house know how much they can change life by bringing joy into it. Of course - the main inhabitants of our apartments (excluding cockroaches) are dogs and cats. Moreover, according to psychologists, a person's love for a cat or dog is strictly connected with his inner psychotype. That is, each of us inside, in fact, lives his own cat or dog. The symbol of the dog is devotion to the grave, the cat is freedom and independence. So, when choosing a pet, we simply project our inner attitudes to the outside, and is it any wonder that pets so often look like their owners.
Since we are considering ways to overcome depression and stress, we would like to pay special attention to ordinary domestic cats. In ancient Egypt, there was a goddess of the moon, fertility and childbearing, named Elurus, and this goddess had a cat's head. For the Egyptians, the cat was inviolable, they worshiped it, revering it as a sacred animal. In ancient Rome, the cat is a symbol of freedom and independence, she was depicted next to the goddess of freedom, Libertas. Then came a black period in the life of these flexible and graceful animals - cats were burned at the stake, seeing in them the night prototype of witches. And very much in vain - soon the man was punished for his cruelty - millions of lives were claimed by the plague, which was carried by hordes of rats and mice. Their immeasurable reproduction was facilitated by the absence of their main enemy - the common gray murka.

Today, times have changed. In Japan, figures of cats stand at the gates of the house - a symbol of comfort and home, in Russia, according to tradition, the cat should be the first to enter a new house. Cats are very sensitive animals - they subtly feel good and bad places in the apartment, and often predict the approach of danger. Not without reason, in the cities and villages located on the slopes of Vesuvius on the eastern shore of the Gulf of Naples, there is no family where cats would not live.

The amazing abilities of cats have been repeatedly tested in the course of various studies. It has been proven that cats really provided serious help to people suffering from mental illness, heart disorders, brain damage, and even contributed to the complete healing of alcoholics and drug addicts. They help hypertensive patients and people who have had a heart attack by normalizing blood pressure and pulse.

Studies conducted in psychiatric institutions have shown that caring for a cat restores self-confidence in patients, reduces physical arousal to a level that is achieved by weeks of relaxation exercises, and finally, the unique nature of cats, their independence, turned out to be a very important factor in treatment. Dogs, as beings more emotionally dependent on humans, receptive to human feelings, cannot be the same healers, quickly adopting the emotional excitability of humans. A cat and its owner are connected by completely different ties - "free choice and contract" - and this is much more important for peace of mind.

Unlike people, they never deceive or flatter, conveying their devotion with silent signals - rubbing against their legs, arching their backs. It is the "cat" caresses that explain the medical talents of cats. It turns out that cats are superb, one-of-a-kind touch-responders. A person has a natural desire to stroke her, and when we immerse our hands in thick wool, we feel better. Through such an energy exchange, a person finds a long-awaited peace. By the way, the method of treatment with cats itself received from experts a rather long name “Pet facilitated therapy” - “beloved animals heal”. Moreover, cats, according to scientists, relieve stress more effectively than cats.

Prayer atdepression

Without prayer, I would have gone crazy a long time ago. (M. Gandhi.)
The world famous doctor, Nobel Prize winner Dr. A. Korel said: Prayer is the most powerful form of energy emitted by a person. It is as real a force as the earth's gravity. As a doctor, I have seen patients who were not helped by any therapeutic treatment. They managed to recover from diseases and melancholy only thanks to the calming effect of prayer ... When we pray, we connect ourselves with the inexhaustible life force that sets the entire Universe in motion. We pray that at least some of this power will be transferred to us. Turning to God for sincere prayer, we improve and heal our soul and body. It is impossible that at least one moment of prayer does not bring a positive result to any man or woman.»

Despite the fact that the very concept of depression in Russia appeared relatively recently, depression, of course, has always existed. Many methods of overcoming it have also become widespread only recently. But for centuries, almost the only consolation of the Russian people, their universal “anti-stress” method was precisely prayer, as well as the Church and its sacraments. We all have different paths, and not all of those reading this article are Christians. But even if you look at any church ritual not from the point of view of faith, but from the point of view of normal logic, many of them, especially confession, are a very powerful tool, a kind of catharsis that allows you to get relief and consolation.

And, of course, prayer. There is a huge number of prayers, but within the framework of this article it is worth mentioning one of them - the prayer of the last Optina elders. This prayer is simple and understandable, with which the inhabitants of the Optina Hermitage - a monastery near Kozelsk usually begin their day:

“Lord, give me peace of mind to meet everything that the coming day brings me. Let me completely surrender to Your holy will. For every hour of this day, instruct and support me in everything. Whatever news I receive during the day, teach me to accept it with a calm soul and firm conviction that everything is Thy holy will.

In all my words and deeds guide my thoughts and feelings. In all unforeseen cases, do not let me forget that everything is sent down by You. Teach me to act directly and reasonably with each member of my family, without embarrassing or upsetting anyone. Lord, give me the strength to endure the fatigue of the coming day and all the events during the day. Guide my will and teach me to repent, pray and believe, hope, endure, forgive, thank and love everyone. Amen"

Many famous people healed their spiritual wounds in this way. Newton, Galileo, Pascal, Pasteur, Einstein, doctor Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Berdyaev, Solovyov, and many others believed in God.

Music at depression

Music is an acoustic composition that arouses in us an appetite for life, as well-known pharmaceutical compositions arouse an appetite for food.. (V. Klyuchevsky)

We don't know when a man came up with the first melody, but we know that it was a very, very long time ago. The chapters of the Bible tell us how David, by playing the lyre, healed the spiritual wounds of King Saul. Music therapy has a thousand-year history - as far back as the 6th century BC. Pythagoras used music to treat certain diseases, and Avicenna in the Canon of Medicine ordered people suffering from melancholy to listen to music and birdsong. George Sand wrote to the composer Giacomo Meyerbeer that music helped her with melancholy much more than a doctor.

Numerous cases are known when a wave of mental epidemic, better known as the “St. Vitus dance”, which in the 14-16 centuries swept Holland, Belgium and other countries, could only be stopped by musicians who played slow, soothing music.

In 1954, the French musician and electro-acoustic engineer M. Jos began research on getting rid of stress and depressive disorders with the help of musical works. The music itself was very carefully selected in accordance with the psychotype of a person, his age and other parameters. The results were so successful that soon two music therapy hospitals were opened in France, in which more serious personality disorders, psychoses, in particular schizophrenia, were treated using this technique.

When applying this method, one or two sessions are held per week, each of which consists of three different pieces of music, in a complex that allows you to achieve the desired effect. The first part is usually consonant with the sad mood of a person, the second part is opposite in mood and, as it were, neutralizes it, and, finally, the third final part has the greatest emotional impact and causes exactly the mood that needs to be created. Here is an example of a music program for stress and depression that works well for people in their 20s and 30s:

1. Fragment from concerto No. 2 by S. Rachmaninov (1 part)
2. Aria from Suite No. 3 by I. Bach.
3. A very short fragment from the first movement of P. Tchaikovsky's Concerto No. 1.

When we feel uncomfortable, we often strive to be alone, and then music helps to survive this state. Music is always written in complete solitude, but it is it that can unite people. Loneliness fell to the lot of many great composers - Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky, Bruckner, Brahms, Ravel.

Strong destructive emotions, such as aggression, can be splashed out to music. For example, the music of Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring" is the best suited for this purpose. The premiere of this ballet in 1913 in Paris ended in scandal. The musical passages excited the listeners so much that they began to talk loudly, forming groups of supporters and opponents, and it almost came to hand-to-hand combat. The militant overture of Rimsky-Korsakovo "The Woman of Pskov" and the expressive music of Bartok (suites and ballets "The Wooden Prince" and "The Wonderful Mandarin") have a similar effect.

Nutrition is the reasondepression

Depression and stress initiate the production of a large number of hormones in the body - adrenaline and cortisol. A significant amount of reserves of vitamins C, B, zinc, magnesium and other minerals are spent on the "production" of these hormones. According to the law of conservation of matter, these necessary elements are urgently "confiscated" from their jobs in the body, where, in turn, their shortage is formed. The lack of vitamin C and zinc prevents the production of sufficient collagen to keep the skin clear and healthy. Lack of vitamin B inhibits energy production and mental activity. Magnesium deficiency leads to headaches and hypertension.

One of the components of a complex attack against stress is a diet aimed at replenishing the body with those substances that are intensively “eaten up” by stress hormones.

Vitamin A- Green leafy vegetables, carrots, apricots, pumpkin.
Vitamin C- All vegetables and fruits, especially citrus fruits, black currants, kiwi, broccoli, white cabbage, rose hips.
B vitamins- All grains, yogurt, liver, pumpkin, avocado, bran bread, lean meat and fish, nuts, brewer's yeast.
Vitamin E- vegetable oil.
Magnesium- "Green" vegetables and herbs, grapefruits, figs, carrots, tomatoes, nuts, buckwheat, oatmeal, peas.
Calcium- milk and dairy products.
Zinc- Lean meat, seafood, eggs, yogurt, cheese, nuts.
Choline- egg yolk, beef liver, sprouted wheat grains.
Glucose- bran bread, sweet fruits, honey.

Also, with depression, the body needs adaptogens - substances that increase the ability of adaptive systems. These include herbal products - today many herbal teas are made from plants containing adaptogens - these are ginseng, lemongrass, licorice, kombucha, echinacea, green tea and many others. Their use has also been found to be especially effective in nervous exhaustion resulting from strenuous mental activity.

Usually, when depressed, a person begins to absorb a variety of foods in large quantities, because for a while this really helps. Although, of course, the consequences of such behavior often cause even greater depression. But, probably, it was not in vain that our ancestors, and in almost all religious concessions (Christianity, Judaism, Islam) had fasting periods or fasts. For example, Christian fasting naturally prepared a person for the change of seasons. Great Lent (March-April) prepared him for the summer and for the transition to summer products, Uspensky (in August) prepared the body for products typical for autumn, Christmas - for winter.

And finally - a few words about drugs. Of course, about natural - many foods contain opiates and endorphins - hormones of "good mood". They help to survive stress, fight depression, and simply increase vitality. Lettuce, spinach, kale, paprika, and other edible plants are rich in the mood-enhancing opiate cytophine. Milk contains the morphine-like substance casomorphin. There is a known presence of morphine in the beer. Bananas contain serotonin, which gives a person a feeling of lightness and fun. And in chocolate, andamine is a substance that has the same stimulating effect as hashish. Sweets generally make us more cheerful - the glucose they contain triggers the "happiness mechanism" in the brain.

Relaxation- as a way out depression

The state of tension is a constant companion of depression. You need to be able to relax. But how? It is clear that the peculiarities of the Russian soul mean drinking strong national drinks and other similar Russian amusements by relaxation, but this section will talk about something else.

Everyone knows that the left hemisphere of our brain is responsible for speech and logical thinking, and the right - for imagination, dreams, intuition. In the modern world there is not much room for feelings, and therefore most of us live by logic. As a result, the resources of the left hemisphere are involved, to the detriment of the right. Although it is with the help of intuition that we can penetrate the essence of things and phenomena, quickly solve problems that our logic and common sense cannot cope with.

In those moments when we somehow force the right hemisphere to still prevail over the left, the beta rhythms usual for the state of wakefulness and tension are replaced by alpha rhythms, which, as a rule, precede sleep. In this state, we are much calmer and we have the ability for creative activity. This state can be achieved not only with sleep, but also with relaxation or relaxation. It is thanks to this that relaxation is able to fully restore strength and bring harmony into our lives, correcting the left hemisphere of everyday life.

Regular relaxation changes body chemistry, and deep stages of relaxation cause the brain to release mood-lifting endophrins. Meditation achieves similar results. Although the term "relaxation" is usually used in relation to our body, and "meditation" in relation to the brain, both methods calm and restore the balance of the body-brain system.

So, relax. At first glance - what could be easier. But you can hardly do it. The vibrations of the city have penetrated very deeply into your thoughts, into your actions, into your body. Relaxing completely means disconnecting from the outside world (removing the usual sound of a TV or tuner), getting away from your thoughts, but simply being alone with the closest person - with yourself.
But - surprisingly - for many, this rather simple experiment will end in a complete fiasco - in a few minutes the mind is taken for the usual chewing gum. With enviable zeal, he will chew on the events of the past day (something that is no longer there) or make plans for tomorrow (something that is not there yet). What's next? Most likely, it will become boring, and the hand will habitually reach for the evening newspaper or the television remote control, and in the next second the person will be anywhere but here. The eternal flight from oneself will continue. But where? Nobody knows.

So, relaxation needs to be learned. There are quite a few techniques to help you enter a state of relaxation, which can be found in numerous books or related pages on the Web. Sometimes during a relaxation session, you can fall so deep that the body goes into a state of sleep. It's not scary - if you want to wake up, for example, in twenty minutes, you can just say it to yourself during the autosuggestion phase. And even if you fall asleep, exactly twenty minutes later your internal clock will go off and you will open your eyes.

This is really a very powerful remedy for dealing with stress and depression, and, moreover, does not take much time. If relaxation becomes a habit, you will be surprised at its results. After a properly carried out relaxation, an extraordinary surge of strength appears, cheerfulness comes. It only takes 10-20 minutes a day, but in fact, you can save much more time on this.

Sleep will helpdepression

“Our life is just a dream,” the sages said. Well, if not all of life, then at least a third of it a person spends in a dream. Sleep is a vital need of the body, no less important than food. If a person can go without food for more than two months, then without sleep he will not live even two weeks. No wonder - one of the most cruel tortures - long-term sleep deprivation leads to mental disorientation and psychosis. Even the ancient Egyptians knew about the beneficial effects of sleep. In those days, a person suffering from some kind of disease was often left in the temple, where he fell into an unusually deep sleep. It was believed that the priests in the temple control the process of dreaming in such a way that natural forces, penetrating into the body, harmonize and streamline it, relieving the disease.

Until the beginning of the 20th century, our sleep was determined by natural rhythms - that is, the length of daylight hours. Since there was no electricity, most people went to bed at sunset and woke up shortly before dawn. The duration of sleep naturally varied depending on the season and ranged from 7 to 12 hours.

With the advent of the industrial revolution, which brought electricity to the world, everything changed. In an industrial society, life was imperceptibly organized to suit the demands of industry. So from this period, a person’s sleep began to correspond not to natural rhythms, but to the imposed rhythm of the city.

Depression primarily disrupts a person's normal sleep patterns. A person needs more time to fall asleep, he often wakes up at night or long before dawn. Justified concern about poor sleep only aggravates the situation, sleep becomes even worse, which in turn depletes the body even more, and so on. However, not everyone reacts to depression with insomnia, some, on the contrary, feel very drowsy and get up in the morning with great difficulty.

If we wake up at night, we usually toss and turn for a long time, worrying a lot about not being able to sleep. But in vain. The fact is that the dream of any person includes four phases, the duration of which is 120 minutes. So if you wake up and can't fall asleep - don't worry - you have plenty of time until the next two-hour sleep period - you can, for example, read.

The onset of the long-awaited two-hour period of sleep will be marked by drowsiness, while it is better not to waste time, and, going to bed, focus not on the desire to fall asleep, but simply relax - then very soon you will find yourself in the arms of Morpheus.

An adult usually needs 7-8 hours of sleep. But here, too, everything is purely individual. Someone needs 11 hours to feel alert and confident, but for someone, like Napoleon, 4 is enough. Lack of sleep is fraught with serious disorders of the nervous system. Sleep restores not so much the physical activity of a person (the heart works day and night), but psychological balance. During sleep, our body produces hormones that are responsible for the growth and restoration of body functions.

The most important thing is not to end up in a vicious circle - when depression provokes insomnia, and insomnia further exacerbates depression. A fairly large percentage of people suffer from insomnia - for example, about 20 million people in the USA, 12 million people in Germany, 9 million people in France. There are no official statistics for Russia - but according to preliminary data, more than 10 million Russians are well aware of insomnia.

Dance awaydepression

Dance is the oldest of the arts. It reflects the primordial human need to communicate their feelings to others through the universal body language. For a man of primitive society, dance was both a way of thinking and a way of life. Almost all important events in the life of an ancient person were celebrated with dances: birth, death, war, the election of a new leader, the healing of the sick. The dance expressed prayers for rain, for the sun, for fertility, for protection and forgiveness. Love, work and ritual - all these concepts were embodied in dance movements.

The dance was not just connected with life, the dance was life itself - for example, in the language of the Mexican Tarahumara Indians, the concepts of "labor" and "dance" are expressed by the same word. The ancient man did not have a regulated dance technique, but excellent physical training allowed the dancers to completely surrender to the dance and dance with absolute dedication. Dances of this kind can still be seen in the islands of the South Pacific, in Africa and in Central and South America.

The fact that Terpsichore, the muse of dance and choral singing, was included in the pantheon of deities speaks about the special attitude to dance in Ancient Greece. In India, according to Hindu legend, the world was created by the dancing god Shiva. With his divine dance, Shiva destroyed the hostile demons, and since then the gods have always danced. The dance was considered as a divine phenomenon, a gift of the gods to mankind. In Sanskrit, "dance" and "drama" are denoted by the same word - "natya", which reflects the inseparability of these concepts, and one of the basic concepts in the ancient dances of the East is "nritta" - pure dance for the sake of dance, in which the dancer is completely given elements of music and rhythm.

The concept of “dance” has changed a lot over the past centuries - unfortunately, in the understanding of a modern person, dance is nothing more than body movements at a disco, or dances of professional dancers, a special room is implied for dancing, etc. But we will try to return to the origin of dance, when dance was life, and life was dance - to what was called in the East by the word "nritta" - dance for the sake of dance.

The most important thing is that there are no people who don't dance. As the classic said, everyone dances. Naturally, this does not mean a traditional dance, which has its own rules, numerous steps and regulated movements, but a dance devoid of any rules, in which only the body dances, and the mind is turned off. We are not professional dancers performing on the dance floor. By the way, professional dancers often fail to fully surrender to such a spontaneous dance, since a lot of standard schemes, beautiful and refined movements are already fixed in their heads.

Dance does not need to be learned. Everything happens quite simply. To do this, you just need to retire for a while and put on music. What? This is not the main thing. The main thing is that you like her. And again, you don't dance for someone. You are just dancing, and this dance is the disappearance from this world.

Dance is a great non-doing. Ideally, you don't dance by yourself, but simply follow the spontaneous movements of your body. The main thing is to put the main enemy to sleep - the mind, which thinks something like this: how beautiful are my movements, is the music and stomping too loud, how not to drop something, and how would someone come in and take me for a psycho and etc.

In a short time, thoughts disappear, the world around disappears, and you are completely immersed in this state. And you experience pleasure. But most importantly, it is not only pleasant, but also useful, because it allows you to cope with stress and depression.
Recently, clubs and dance therapy studios have begun to appear in cities. In dance therapy classes, it is much easier to get into a state of true dance, as the energy of the dancer connects with the energy of the group. Usually, such activities turn into an exciting process, allowing you to gradually get rid of many bodily clamps caused by stress, the existence of which we most often do not even suspect.

Rebirthing vs.depression

For those who do not know, these are special breathing techniques that allow a person to enter the AES (altered state of consciousness). There is nothing complicated in the technique itself, but the first few lessons must be done in a group under the guidance of an instructor. Further - you can practice on your own, consulting with an instructor.

To be extremely brief, during rebirthing, a small part of the unconscious in the form of images, sounds, bodily impulses penetrates into consciousness, i.e. is realized. There is a connection, integration, and since our unconscious is a deep cesspool for everything dark and nasty (as Z. Freud said) and a storehouse of infinite wisdom and (as his talented student K. Jung claimed), this process has neither beginning nor end, and rebirthing can be done all your life.

Of course, rebirthing experiences during depression will be different from usual ones. For example, my feelings of horror, fear, anxiety intensified. All this increased during the session (which lasted 1-1.5 hours), reached its peak, and left, so after the rebirthing I felt much calmer and more confident.

This technique is ideal for many, but not everyone can breathe for a long time, and for this reason, I personally did not have a relationship with rebirthing. And so - something to advise here is meaningless. Try. To date, a lot of interesting books have been published on this topic.

The most important thing about depression

Yes, you can use some drugs to normalize the biochemical processes in the brain, you can temporarily increase the level of serotonin with the help of running, you can do a lot more ...

But all this applies only to the bodily or somatic (from soma - body) level. And violations on the bodily level are a consequence of violations on a higher level - spiritual. Never, even the purest somatics can determine the level of a person's Spirit. This, just as clear eyes cannot guarantee that there is not a murderer before You, so the perfection of the body cannot determine the perfection of the conscience. Everyone knows the proverb "In a healthy body - a healthy Spirit", but not everyone - that it completely sounds like this: "A healthy Spirit does not always exist in a healthy body." Isn't it, the meaning has changed a little.

Depression is primarily a disease not of the body, but of the soul.. And this question is no longer in charge of medical science, but ... For someone else. These issues are discussed in more detail in the Depression and Religion section. Probably, there is no single and correct religion - each of us has his own way, and a person is beautiful and great precisely in his uniqueness. Truly, "the ways of the Lord are inscrutable."

And yet the main thing is, of course, Faith. And not necessarily - faith in God. If you really believe in what you are doing, it should work. This applies even to seemingly completely mechanical methods, such as taking antidepressants. Any psychiatrist will tell you - if you do not believe, then there is no point in taking them. Still won't help.

And yet - time. It is during the depression that it drags on so long and dull. I want everything at once. But, unfortunately, that doesn't happen. Sometimes it seems that nothing changes, nothing helps, everything remains the same. But usually this is a consequence of a pessimistic mood typical of depression. In fact, everything is changing. Only slowly. So slow.

Perhaps you are also asking yourself this question: "Why me?". And the truth is "why?". Nothing in this world just happens. Nor is your depression accidental. Yes - it destroys the personality, takes strength, but for some reason You suffer from depression, and someone suffers from severe pain in the joints all their lives (and also asks themselves this eternal question - God - why me?).

By the way - about the joints ... A few years ago, with difficulty getting out of the networks of another depression, I begged - let me be sent instead of mental anguish - bodily. It was not a request, it was a cry from the soul of a stupid little man to the Great Universe. And she heard me. And so it happened. I got my bodily pains. My joints hurt. The pain was dull, aching, exhausting. I held out for several months, after which I again cried out with a request to return everything to its place, as if this stupid request of mine did not exist at all. And so it happened.

All of the above is aimed at performing some action - you yourself understand - "water does not flow under a lying stone", but there are exceptions. Sometimes it is wiser not to direct the rest of your strength against a powerful vector of depression, but to lie low, lie low. A hurricane breaks large and strong trees, and flexible ones are nailed to the ground. Not every situation can be changed, but most can be adapted. For hundreds of years our fathers and grandfathers prayed: "Lord, give me the strength to change what I can change; the humility to live with what I cannot change; and the wisdom to distinguish one from the other". This is called humility.

Deep and prolonged depressions often take away all mental and bodily strength, and there is no possibility, meaning, strength to do anything. And in this case - the only possibility remains, a given - to WAIT. Yes - when every second inside there is only emptiness and cold, it is very difficult to wait. Every day to wade through time, when endless and gray days add up to endless and empty weeks, and weeks into months. And nothing changes. Nothing happens. And during this period, You have only one weapon - please do not deprive yourself of it - and this is the knowledge that depression cannot last forever. Yes, during this period it seems that nothing will ever change, that it will always be like this, but believe me, it will definitely end. Just keep this knowledge.

The great connoisseur of human souls K.G. Jung said that Depression is a woman in black knocking on your door. If You drive her away, she will stand at the threshold of Your house forever. If you invite, seat at the table, feed, and only then ask about the purpose of her visit, then you have a chance to say goodbye to her.

And finally - about the most important thing - about hope. She is the last to die. If there is no thread of hope, then there is nothing to cling to. Without hope, a person cannot live long, and sometimes he cannot live at all. But even if everything seems completely gloomy and there is no way out, know that any, even the most severe depression, will eventually end and You will come out into the light.

V. Dovgan: How to overcome depression, despondency and melancholy?!

After all, there is always a way out, and You are no exception to the rule.